Overspeeding Fine of Rs. 1.24 Lakhs in Kerala

This is a discussion on Overspeeding Fine of Rs. 1.24 Lakhs in Kerala within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Originally Posted by rajeev k
The Government wants money to pay salary advance and Onam allowance well ahead of the ...

The Government wants money to pay salary advance and Onam allowance well ahead of the Kerala's Onam celebrations commencing on September 15

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Originally Posted by nitinbose

Such challenges are the very cause of the pathetic state of our country.

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Originally Posted by avira_tk

I am also a member here, I hope you figured that.
Please read all my posts to understand my views, the speed limit in Kerala is 50kmph all round not 80, the speed limit is 70kmph on highways where the incident took place, get your facts straight. The only reference I made to KSRTC(Kerala) drivers was a compliment to their driving, I don't know where you got this arrogant monsters description. Team BHP doesn't promote street racing for sure, that is not being discussed here, go through a few ownership posts you will find speeds close to 150kmph being discussed.

The Kerala cops *don't collect fines for "rash driving", do you have any evidence that they do? In your book I suppose overspeeding is the only form of rash driving. The only thing that they have done is send notices to people who have been caught on a speed camera, the fines aren't going to improve the place, Onam bonus around the corner, the treasury is empty and this is the path of minimum resistance - highways are referred to as zamindari convenience in local lingo thats is a socialist hangover not socialism per se. If opposition to expressways qualifies as concern for people then maybe you have no understanding of Kerala psyche - again completely

Please don't make inaccurate statements without facts!
"50 per cent of the fund is utilised to improve road safety standards. The fine is deposited in the treasury,"

Buses resort to speeding at night in the Mannuthy - EKM route.
But in Thrissur, where I reside, the bus people plying in Kozhikode-Thrissur route overspeed at all times! (Overspeed is an understatement - Hyperspeed is the word)
And if people wanna reach fast please get out early from your homes, Don't put others life at risk for your own personal benefit and bus operator's economical benefit!

Driving in the stretch of Kunnamkulam - little ahead of Kecheri is like playing Russian roulette on the road and with family inside the car it get really scary. With these maniacs flashing lights, honking with air horns and their employees shouting all bad words !!!!

These people should be strictly dealt with the hands of law!
Fining should only be the beginning!
Cancellation of permits, confiscation of license, even make them part of awareness and community service programmes should be considered!

These instances are not for making fun of the poor infrastructure, bad behaviour of pedestrians and blaming the governments!
It is also a primary duty of the Driving community like ours to respect all of the lives at risk and act ethically and morally! Even if it means a little slower speed and reaching home a little late!

Law is there to be followed! If you don't want to follow it, you are no better than a criminal of any kind!
Because afterall your blatant disregard for law and by supporting these maniacs, you would be silent party to making someone orphan or make someone loose their loved ones!

If you want to speed please take your car to the nearest race track, pay and drive as fast and reckless as you want!
But please wear a seat belt and a helmet, remember some loved one of yours is waiting for you to return!

For those of you who claim the Volvo cannot do speeds about 120, 130 or whatever you claim, do you care to support your argument with some form of proof? Or are you just pulling those claims out of thin air, because you feel a big lumbering leviathan could not get upto those speeds?

There are multiple people claiming that they have matched the Volvo speeds of 150 or whatever with their cars and I will here tend to agree with them. I have used GPS units (both Garmin and my Smartphone's GPS) while traveling in the Volvo to measure speeds.

I've observed the B7R go upto 127 and the B9R go upto 145, both on return trips from Kerala. I've not observed (again with GPS) Volvos on any other routes exceeding 110.

Also please do note, I do not support or condone over-speeding in any form, just merely giving my observation here.

avira_tk, can you please highlight the onam part of your comments? Maybe some data to indicate fine collection suddenly goes up in the few days before Onam and other similar festivals?

And in most books, overspeeding would be a major example of rash driving, yes.

If the speed limit is 50kmph, you should be driving at 50kmph tops, not at 100kmph. Responsible behavior starts by following the rules, not by saying you can break certain rules this way and bend some others that way because you know better than the babus who frame those rules.

The speed limit in one of Kerala's arterial roads, also called MC road is 50 on the whole stretch, my dad was fined for doing 53. I am sure you think that he was rash and irresponsible, however ,I am sure anyone driving a car can be in control at 53kmph.

My posts are not for those who have great love for discipline aka nanny state, we are not on the same page here. I know from experience and interaction that this is a fund raising drive, I don't have to give you the details, but Bangalore has the same system. I admire your faith in the bureaucracy, it should serve you well, I am a bit skeptical.

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Originally Posted by SASproject

Onam or not, Socialism or not, fining an overspeeding bus is right. There are no two ways about it.

Getting late for any occasion does not warrant putting the life of all the passengers in the bus + other drivers and their families at risk.
...

On another note most of the school buses in Pune seem to have the speed governors installed. Its not an apples to apples comparison per se, but a good move nonetheless. And going by the speeds they do, the governors actually seem to be working.

Yes I get it, why should poorer people get anywhere faster than a car owner. By the way, you mention cops may be corrupt to the hilt, will you have the same opinion if later on the camera was found to be rigged? Was the bus doing this speed all over or at some deserted stretch? I am sure a few members have pushed their cars like this, but your hyperbole is reserved only for buses.

Here is a scenario, you book a bus ticker online, the driver sticks to the speed limit, 70kmph on highways, 50 max on the rest. You arrive 4 hours late ,tell me how would you rate the punctuality of the bus? Speeds need to be realistic, 90kmph on the NH and 70 on the the rest.

The government says that money is used for road improvement, considering the state of the roads, they seriously need another source of revenue.

"50 per cent of the fund is utilised to improve road safety standards. The fine is deposited in the treasury,"

This is exactly what I too said. When the coffers of the state government are empty, these funds come in handy. Even hundi collections from temples go in there. Account-wise distribution is a later happening thing, if at all.

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little ahead of Kecheri is like playing Russian roulette on the road and with family inside the car it get really scary. With these maniacs flashing lights, honking with air horns and their employees shouting all bad words !!!!

All single lane main roads from Kaliyikkavila to Kasargod witness these incidents.

As far as I can remember, a B9R has a speedometer till 120kmph, and they have very less error (with respect to my phone's GPS speed indicated by my tracks). According to a Neeta driver I had spoken to, the bus runs out of steam around 135kmph.

Regarding my car's speedometer, when I do a speed of 120kmph(speedometer indicated), it shows constant 111kmph in my tracks. My car is running on stock sized tyres, so no questions of speedometer error.

So, there is something fishy about 150kmph, speed gun error can be a reason.

I am also a member here, I hope you figured that.Please read all my posts to understand my views, the speed limit in Kerala is 50kmph all round not 80, the speed limit is 70kmph on highways where the incident took place, get your facts straight. The only reference I made to KSRTC(Kerala) drivers was a compliment to their driving, I don't know where you got this arrogant monsters description. Team BHP doesn't promote street racing for sure, that is not being discussed here, go through a few ownership posts you will find speeds close to 150kmph being discussed.

The Kerala cops don't collect fines for "rash driving", do you have any evidence that they do? In your book I suppose overspeeding is the only form of rash driving. The only thing that they have done is send notices to people who have been caught on a speed camera, the fines aren't going to improve the place, Onam bonus around the corner, the treasury is empty and this is the path of minimum resistance - highways are referred to as zamindari convenience in local lingo thats is a socialist hangover not socialism per se. If opposition to expressways qualifies as concern for people then maybe you have no understanding of Kerala psyche - again completely

avira_tk, I am sorry to say that you have got many of your facts wrong.
First of all speed limits on national highways are determined by the NHAI,not the state .
Also recently there hase been a proposal to assign the speed limits vehicle specific -eg: Xkmph for Heavy vehicles,Ykmph for Four wheelers etc.This is pending implementation.
Regarding MC road ,it is a State Highway (one of the oldest) and its geometry doesnot permit to allow a speed limit of over 60kmph.But due to the high quality of the road surface following KSTP project,vehicles are speeding at over 100kmph leading to high incidence of accidents.Till a decade ago the number of accidents in MC road visavis NH47 was much less.Have you ever thought why MC road has never been granted NH status even though mush less important roads have become NH's like NH208 etc.
Correlating Onam bonus and fines for overspeeding is too farfetched and an instance of nonsensical correlation.The Speed cameras have been installed in these areas at least 2 years back itself,but only recently the fine imposition has become very regular.
Regarding Express highway if you have any idea about the topography,land availability and population density you will fully agree that it is not feasible in Kerala. Kerala has 4 airports(including Kannur)within a range of 700 kms So if someone need to travel that fast he can use the aerial route. It has nothing to do with ''socialism''or its hangover''
which is in any case much better than ''crony capitalism''

Those buses are a means of public transport, not a racing toy to 'smoke' competitors, and given the quality of driving on display in & around Bangalore, the Volvos are definitely not in the right hands, safety-wise. Ever heard of the cliche "With great power comes great responsibility"? These modern buses are extremely powerful and maneuverable as you mention, but that should make the drivers more careful while handling it, not less.

I've been at the receiving end of these slick drivers on multiple occasions both in the city and on the highway, and one's left with no option but to get out of the way, or risk getting side-swiped/run off the road. 'Maniacal' doesn't even begin to describe the kind of driving on display.

And I agree with you, we should respect the law of the land. But before that, we should respect our own safety and of other road users around us. Laws change with the times, it's your sense of safety that will keep you alive on the road.

Ofcourse I was being very sarcastic!

Most of these idiots drive/ride at the maximum speed possible. I do not know if a volvo can do 150kmph/hr, but I think its capable.

I am someone who has even got off a bus at some village because I dint like the driving style of a nutcase who in all probability seemed as though he just graduated from a bullockcart.

I am very happy that they fined that crackpot. The operator too.

Other things that have a serious effect, but are never given importance,

1. vehicle maintenance, I have seen so many volvos having the 'service brake' indicator lit up on the console

2. Very driver friendly yes, but shuttling between 2 cities atleast 600 kms apart without proper rest and with no backup driver or even a cleaner.

3. Retread tyres.

@Divya Saran, Would you max out on your bike? for a few hundred kms? These guys can and will do that. Its as good as ridding an old TVS50 at 50kms. And that is very scary to me.

Any idea if these buses actually have electronically restricted top speeds, or just have the speed warning alarms (like the annoying ones in Meru cabs)?

I'll take a look at the speedometer the next time I ride to the airport on one of these shuttles.

The BIAS buses has a speed limiter at 80 kms, as per the speed limit on BIAL road. This can been keenly observed by two things, one there is a speed alarm like musical beep, post which you will notice that the bus is not able to further increasing its speeds, secondly the buses are rarely seen overtaking a MERU cab, which generally ply at 80-90 kms speeds

BMTC is very focused on mileage, which is not necessarily true with KSRTC as the short trips (Eg. Bangalore - Mysore and back) could be filler day trips for the long distance buses, where variable cost recovery is more important.

Yes I get it, why should poorer people get anywhere faster than a car owner. By the way, you mention cops may be corrupt to the hilt, will you have the same opinion if later on the camera was found to be rigged? Was the bus doing this speed all over or at some deserted stretch? I am sure a few members have pushed their cars like this, but your hyperbole is reserved only for buses.

Here is a scenario, you book a bus ticker online, the driver sticks to the speed limit, 70kmph on highways, 50 max on the rest. You arrive 4 hours late ,tell me how would you rate the punctuality of the bus? Speeds need to be realistic, 90kmph on the NH and 70 on the the rest.

The government says that money is used for road improvement, considering the state of the roads, they seriously need another source of revenue.

That is a clearly baseless assumption. Let me put down three points:

1. You will never find any posts across the entire forum where I have congratulated or supported a 'Car driver'. So on what basis have you decided I am of the opinion that 'rich car drivers' should be allowed to go fast while 'poor bus drivers' should be penalised. Refrain from such personal attacks if you cant back the statements.

2. Being poor or rich does not give anyone the right to go fast. No matter how poor a bus driver is, it does not warrant him putting so many lives in risk. That is not a valid argument.

3. Assumptions that cameras are rigged are stupid. If it is so ill say lets assume the driver does this together with the cops and gets a kickback. So the driver is corrupt. Or the bus service is owned by a big corrupt politician. So does that make the fine right then.

If the bus driver can't reach the destination, he should not commit the time. Its senseless to say that because I said I have to reach in X hours, I should be allowed to overspeed. I may be wrong but it is not in the spirit (or rules) of the forum to encourage overspeeding.

My posts are not for those who have great love for discipline aka nanny state, we are not on the same page here. I know from experience and interaction that this is a fund raising drive, I don't have to give you the details, but Bangalore has the same system. I admire your faith in the bureaucracy, it should serve you well, I am a bit skeptical.

Yes I get it, why should poorer people get anywhere faster than a car owner. By the way, you mention cops may be corrupt to the hilt, will you have the same opinion if later on the camera was found to be rigged? Was the bus doing this speed all over or at some deserted stretch? I am sure a few members have pushed their cars like this, but your hyperbole is reserved only for buses.

Here is a scenario, you book a bus ticker online, the driver sticks to the speed limit, 70kmph on highways, 50 max on the rest. You arrive 4 hours late ,tell me how would you rate the punctuality of the bus? Speeds need to be realistic, 90kmph on the NH and 70 on the the rest.

The government says that money is used for road improvement, considering the state of the roads, they seriously need another source of revenue.

The so called merits and justifications you've quoted are really really lame!
Let me quote you a report for reply !

@avira_tk, I am sorry about having to pay fine for driving at 53kmph when the speed limit is 50kmph. I am sure we al are supposed to know that if the speed limit prescribed is 50kmph it really only means we can only go upto 50kmph and not one or half kmph above it. That's something basic one must understand when getting a driver's license.

Here is what we all must keep in mind. I don't know if the new smartcards carry this message.

I am someone who has even got off a bus at some village because I dint like the driving style of a nutcase who in all probability seemed as though he just graduated from a bullockcart.

I am very happy that they fined that crackpot. The operator too.

Wish there were a few more like you ,
I have mentioned this earlier in some other thread, repeating the same here . I have got into fights with fellow passengers , have been abused and asked to get off the bus and have been threatened by drivers ... All because I have asked the drivers to drive carefully. I have been told " people like you always piss off the driver " or " we are in a Volvo bus , nothing can happen to us in an accident " " don't act over smart , we will throw you out of the bus on the ghat " ....

I disagree when you call the drivers as idiots. All those selfish people inside the bus , who turn a blind eye and ignore rash& negligent driving are bigger idiots. I have taken videos of drivers and shared with operators even when I have been threatened by drivers. I remember a KSRTC Volvo driver who was driving at a max of 70 kph. As I was sitting tight behind him , I could hear the conductor / co-driver making fun of him when even 100 cc bikes were overtaking him. That was when he mentioned that he was beaten up by a car driver whom he narrowly missed crashing into at a blind corner on the NH48. It seems this car swerved off the road to avoid him and the took a u turn and caught up with him after 15-20 mins to bash him up. He was saying , it's better to reach 5 mins late than get beaten up like that on the road. If only passengers were more careful. If not for others lives , but for their own well being

At this point of time the Central Surface Transport Ministry is actively considering to agree to Kerala's request to limit the width of the National Highways passing through the State to 30Mtrs. So no Express ways in the State soon. Mind you the GQ also gave kerala the skip.All because of the thick density of population ans therefore 70 KMPH would remain as the maximum allowable speed in the State.